Sounders Topple US U17s

Goals by David Estrada, Sammy Ochoa and Zach Scott put an exclamation point on Seattle's second straight shutout in a 3-0 win.

BRADENTON, Florida – One day after the Sounders shut out the Columbus Crew over 120 minutes, a team made up mostly of reserves took the field against the US U17 National Team for a 70-minute game and achieved the same thing, topping the US Youth International side 3-0 at the IMG Soccer Academy on Thursday.

David Estrada, Sammy Ochoa and Zach Scott all scored first-half goals for the Sounders and goalkeeper Andrew Weber kept the sheet clean over the two 35-minute halves.

“Guys know that they are battling. They are trying to position themselves not only on the roster but also within the hierarchy, the playing order within the roster. I think there's obviously guys that stepped up and did well for themselves,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said. “David Estrada did well for himself again, scored a good goal. He's been making good decisions. Christian Sivebaek was an influence on the game again which is what you want to see from players. From that standpoint, it was very good.”

Over the first 20 minutes of the match, Seattle kept the pressure on, but Sounders FC Academy product Paul Christensen manned the US U17 goal with authority, grabbing several crosses out of the air and keeping his defense strong in front of him.

That nearly slipped away when Estrada appeared to beat Christensen with a header, but the shot hit off the upright and bounced back to Christensen, who cleared away the 23rd minute effort.

Estrada made good on the near-miss moments later though, when Ochoa fed him a pass up the middle of the field and Estrada lifted it past Christensen for his second goal of the preseason and a 1-0 Sounders lead in the 24th minute.

Estrada nearly added to the lead twice in the 29th minute, but had a header skip wide and a hard shot from the right side go just outside the far post.

Ochoa would add to his fruitful preseason in the 32nd minute though, cleaning up a loose ball at the top of the box and slotting it inside the left post for his second goal of training camp and a 2-0 lead.

Quickly, the Sounders added to that lead.

Cordell Cato had his shot from 23 yards out deflected, but the ball fell to Scott coming hard up the left side and Scott hammered home a falling left-footed shot for a 3-0 lead in the 34th minute.

The second half featured much fewer scoring chances and a slightly busier time for Weber, but nothing provided much of a threat to either goal and Seattle finished with the 3-0 victory to push their preseason record to 2-0-2.

The players that played extended minutes in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over the Columbus Crew did a light training session on a nearby field.

Their final match in Florida will be Sunday at 1 pm Pacific Time (4 pm Eastern) against Florida Gulf Coast University.